white dwarfs
Main Sequence and White Dwarf Binaries are Hiding in Plain Sight
Some binary stars are unusual. They contain a main sequence star like our Sun, while the other is a "dead"…
White Dwarfs are Often Polluted With Heavier Elements. Now We Know Why
When stars exhaust their hydrogen fuel at the end of their main sequence phase, they undergo core collapse and shed…
White Dwarfs Could Support Life. So Where are All Their Planets?
Astronomers have found plenty of white dwarf stars surrounded by debris disks. Those disks are the remains of planets destroyed…
This Brown Dwarf is 2,000 Degrees Hotter Than the Sun
Astronomers have discovered an intense binary star system located about 1,400 light years away. It contains a brown dwarf with…
A Brown Dwarf is Getting Hit With So Much Radiation it's Hotter Than the Sun
Astronomers have found a brown dwarf companion to a white dwarf star with a day-side temperature of around 8,000 kelvin…
Binary Stars Live Complicated Lives, Especially Near the End
We know what will happen to our Sun. It'll follow the same path other stars of its ilk follow. It'll…
A New Kind of Stellar Explosion Has Been Discovered: Micronovae
The most energetic explosions in the Universe come from stars called supernovae. These galactic bombs have the energy of about…
You can Tell how big a Black Hole is by how it Eats
Astronomers can determine the size of a black hole by the way it consumes nearby matter.
A Nearby White Dwarf Might be About to Collapse Into a Neutron Star
A white dwarf star has been found that's more massive than our Sun, but about the same size as our…
Our Part of the Galaxy is Packed with Binary Stars
Binary star systems are everywhere. They make up a huge percentage of all known solar systems: from what we can…